by Malalie Fazli
Did you know that 40% of Fortune 500 companies based in Nebraska were founded by immigrants or their children?
Those firms generate $28B in annual revenue and employ 58,500 people globally.
CareerLadder is a program that connects skilled immigrants and refugees to career pathways, digital resources, and a professional network while fostering economic opportunity and restoring dignity through work.
Hello! I am Malalie Fazli, and I work as an Employment Specialist with Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska in Lincoln.
As an immigrant myself, I understand the myriad challenges that other immigrants or refugees face with obtaining their dream job and achieving their career goals. Despite having high skills and holding degrees from their home country, most immigrants and refugees adjust to enter into any available or lower job occupations just to afford the basic costs of living in the U.S. They cannot start working in the same field as they used to in their home country since their degree is not recognized by U.S educational system.
It takes years and years to adapt and learn about the requirements they need to meet in order to get their degree credentials evaluated and navigate the complicated process of several stages of exams and state licensing process. These reasons lead some people to give up on getting back to their previous careers.
Personally, it’s miserable for me when all those years of struggle and experience are wasted. Hence, as an Employment Specialist, I am extremely happy working with highly skilled immigrants and refugees through the CareerLadder program.
CareerLadder focuses on five professionals: Law, Accounting, Nursing, Education, and Engineering. By providing digital resources, we can connect immigrant job seekers to mentors and we support them while utilizing their previous work experience.
I am glad to have the opportunity to guide each one of them toward attaining their goals and dream careers again. This not only benefits immigrants but the U.S economy as a whole.
